I am who some may call a 'seeker' but have grown discouraged. Grew up in a religious household and now am in my late 20s.
Its easy to see the God exists. Creation makes that evident.
I feel like I know God. I've felt His presence. I don't know doctrinally who He is... the God of Abraham; Mohammed; or the Trinity.
I'm sure he is not 100% pleased with me and the way I live but I can only do so much in this skin. I have many ingrained desires and wants which, without supernatural help, I cannot overcome.
But I just cannot come to believe in Jesus (and I have tried for over 20 years). I cannot see him. And there is no evidence of him from what I can see except from history and what people call the New Testament which I have read over many times and yes it is very beautiful and thoughtfully written albeit by men. The message is very compelling but it stops there - at 'believe in me'.
So I raise this question, to help me understand, to those on this forum who say they know Jesus on a personal level - how do you believe in someone you cannot see?
How do you know that you know Jesus on a personal level and not the God of Abraham or some other?
Remember nature tells us there is a God, however I know of nothing that tells me there is a Jesus and He is alive today.... nothing. How do you know who you are talking to when you pray is not the God of Abraham or Mohammed? What am I missing/not doing?
I have a lot of compassion for you DC87 so please be patient with me as i go deep into the word to bring you knowledge which is digestible to your spirit.
Alright brother... let's get crackin
, btw when you said "How do you believe in someone you cannot see", i almost shattered from the surge of energy from within, thank god i have him, i had to contain my joy.
First of all, God is the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. (what he's referred to sometimes in the scriptures)
Secondly the trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the holy Spirit, both whom are all equal, and the name for all of them as one is Jehovah
. like you said yourself; his works are present in nature and the bible confirms that:
Romans 1:20 "
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse."
Reason for the above scripture is for me to explain the Trinity
, The Sun is a Trinity, It gives us Light, Heat and the Sun that we see, but it's still one when we look at it, the same thing with you, if i were to look at you in our current world with my current eyes, i would see one of you, although you are made up of a Spirit, a Soul and the body which is what i see, you are a Trinity being.
Now, you need a bible mate, i'm not saying this in a bad way but rather as a friend would suggest something to his friend, this may help; the word Bible comes from the Greek word Biblia, which means holy books, or collection of books, and that's what the bible is, a collection of holy books, originally they were written in Hebrew by inspiration of god through his prophets, the words which come from the bible are not "thoughtfully written albeit by men." Those men, especially in the new testament walked with the third person of the trinity; The Holy spirit, and the writings were directly from him; the spirit of god, the same goes for the other books.
Before i move on, i want to address how you feel about god, he is a loving father, at this point you may not know, but he's taken notice of you seeking him, for a loving father i can assure you he's more pleased rather then angry at you!, once you fully grow, you'll know that there is nothing you don't have.
Anyway back on track; I want to talk about the creation, Genesis, the first book of Moses, now you can google it and read everything, but i will focus on the creation of man.
This is how it all began.
God “created man” which mean man wasn’t in existence before (and it’s talking about man’s spirit)
Genesis 1:27 "So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
If god created man in his own image, man had to be a spirit because god is a spirit, and that is why he is called the father of spirits in Hebrew 12:9
After the creation of man, man was then “formed” (so the physical body)
Genesis 2:7 “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
The spirit which god created is breath into man.
We also need to look at
Genesis 1:28 which says “And god blessed them, and God said unto them (Adam and Eve), be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”
We already know that Adam and Eve did not have children until they had sinned, (background info: and the sin disconnected them from god, it was the spirit of man that was disconnected and could not relate with God, that is what god meant in
Genesis 2:17 when god said “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."
Just like how our physical body allow us to relate with this world through its five senses, the spirit is what relates with god, so If you lost all 5 sense of your body, then you cannot relate with this world, because, you wouldn’t know when you are sitting, or standing, or eating (all these examples are from pastor Chris), so the spirit could not relate with god, and pastor Chris explains that when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they were shut off from god, their spirit had to operate with the body (Genesis 3:7 "...the eyes of them both were open and they knew that they were naked;..."), but because god is a master communicator he was able to talk to Adam and Eve, but they could not relate back to him, (anyway back to the point)
Now, when god commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and to multiply, it was to both the spirit and the flesh, otherwise Eve would have had to give birth and pile up her babies and ask god to breathe life into them like what he did to Adam when he was made, (the women had the ability to give birth to a breathing baby)
When man gives birth, the body comes from the woman and the life comes from the father, So then the reason why we cannot know god before we are born is because the spirit that we receive, is from our father which is born with sin, in other words, the spirit inherit the sin of Adam and Eve. (therefore every man no matter how sinless they may be, still is a sinner due to this)
And that is why Jesus had to be born of a virgin, his body came from a woman, but his spirit came directly from god, his spirit had no sin in it because it did not come from a man.
That is why he is sometimes called the second or the last Adam 1 Corinthians 15:45 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.”
Jesus was God in the flesh, he was the totality of God's icon, he is not a different person, he IS the same God, who came down here to die for all our present, past and future sins, now he is also called the living word, because he was the word of God, by the way god never left heaven, it is his Spirit, or the holy spirit that does all that he says, he is the power behind everything god does, and Jesus is the word of god.
Colossians 1:15-16 "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,
For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him"
So Jesus is the word the Holy spirit act according to.
If you read this far then thank you!, As for how do you believe in someone you cannot see, When you are born again (your spirit is born of the will of God) which is done by confessing that Jesus is lord of your life, and believing in your heart that he died and rose again;
Romans 10:9-10
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
The reason why he's real to us more then the other prophets or anyone in the bible is because the holy ghost comes into our lives, he becomes one with our spirit when we accept Jesus, he brings the presence of Jesus to us and the Presence of God, he literally lives with us, Jesus sent the holy spirit to be with us, he said
John 14:16-17 "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."
*Notes from pastor Chris's Book, Holy spirit and you*
There are two words for 'another' in the Greek: one is 'Heteros' and the
other is 'Allos.'
Heteros means 'another one of a different kind', while
Allos means 'another one of the same kind.'
The word translated to "Another" here is 'Allos'
Jesus chose the word 'Allos' instead of 'Heteros'. he said
"i will pray the Father and He shall give you Allos Parakletos", meaning
'another one of the same kind of Paraklet' Parakletos, referring to One
called to go alongside.
Now, the first word given to us for Paraklet in the Enlgish language is
'Comforter'. In other words, a Paraklet is 'one who is called to go with you
as a comforter'.
The Amplified Bible translation lets us Know that the comforter who has been
sent to go along side with us is pro-active by giving us six synonyms of the
word "Comforter" (Parakletos). They are Counselor, Helper, Intercessor,
Advocate, Strengthener and Standby.
Romans 8:11
"
And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit, who dwells within you."
Christ comes to live in our hearts, and he becomes more real then all around us, and when he becomes more real then our troubles, we are healed from them. Colossians 1:27 "
to whom God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
There is a lot of things for you to know brother, but it takes time and development, Ask me more please, i want to help as much as i can
, thank you for your patients.
